Left Anchor

Nordic Socialism - 367 EXCERPT

Today we have Danish MP Pelle Dragsted on to talk about his book Nordic Socialism: The Path Toward a Democratic Economy. We discuss what is distinctive about the Nordic socialist tradition, how much of it is left after many decades of neoliberal attacks, what people can learn from it today, and more. 
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Why Christians Should Be Leftists - 366 PREVIEW

Today we have Phil Christman on to talk about his book Why Christians Should Be Leftists. Is there a model of Christianity aside from right-wing fundamentalism--something more in like with the teachings of this fellow Jesus Christ?
The David Bentley Hart essay mentioned can be found here.

The Covid Doctors of Doubt - 365

Today we have Dr. Jonathan Howard, who writes at Science Based Medicine, on to discuss his new book Everyone Else Is Lying to You: How the medical establishment weaponized doubt to spread COVID, normalize quackery, and undermine public health. It's all about a cohort of highly credentialed and elite doctors who spread grotesque disinformation about Covid from the very start of the pandemic, and kept doing so even as their predictions were repeatedly proven wrong. And now many of those people are in charge of America's public health bureaucracy, tearing it to shreds--when they aren't getting Jonathan's YouTube channel nuked by abusing the company's copyright policy.
Why and how did they do this, and what might we do to stop this from happening in the future?

The Case for Democracy - 364

Today we have writer and friend of the pod Osita Nwanevu on to talk about his new book The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding. He goes back to political brass tacks--what democracy actually is, why it's important, why we don't have it, and why we should work to achieve the goals set forth in the Declaration of Independence for the first time.

Greenland Report - 363 EXCERPT

Ryan recently visited Greenland to report on their public sector, which turns out to be extremely large and critical to the local economy. How and why did this develop? Then we discuss some recent gerrymandering news.
Stay tuned for the full article in the next issue of the Prospect! And subscribe here to hear the rest of the episode.

Katie Brennan Beat the New Jersey Machine - 362 EXCERPT

Today we're interviewing Katie Brennan, who just won the primary for the New Jersey state Assembly in Hudson County. She explains how the state Democratic machine de facto abolished democracy with a rigged ballot design, how it changed, and how she overcame a tidal wave of money to win.
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A Turning Point for Gaza? - 361

Today we've got Layla Al-Sheik on to discuss recent events in Gaza, where an onrushing famine has suddenly become widely acknowledged, even among parts of the Israeli far right. Is it because reality finally broke through, or Europe getting fed up--or perhaps an Ezra Klein column? And is there a chance to save Gazans and get a permanent peace settlement?
Check out our previous episode with Layla here and the Isaac Chotiner interview of Amit Segal here.

Transphobia Is Based on Lies - 360

Alexi is still on vacation, so this time we are replaying a recent American Prospect Weekly Roundup show, in which Evan Urquhart of Assigned Media helps Ryan dig into the Supreme Court's latest transphobic decision and how The New York Times played a vital role in it.

The Worst Law in 175 Years - 359 PREVIEW

Today we've got David Dayen on to discuss the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: massive tax cuts for the rich, massive cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, evisceration of Joe Biden's climate program, and huge subsidies for oil and coal companies, plus a number of bizarre smaller items. Republicans seemingly also forgot to waive another budget law, meaning there will also be $500 billion in cuts to Medicare over the next decade. Not great!
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Four Futures Revisited - 353 UNLOCKED

Back in 2011 Peter Frase wrote an article for Jacobin called "Four Futures," later turned into a book, speculating about how politics and the economy might evolve in the future as automation progresses. The four possibilities, outlined in broad strokes, are: communism, rentism, socialism, and exterminism. Fourteen years on, how have his predictions borne out, with the rise of global temperatures, green energy, and artificial intelligence?